


inkstains, paper, and fate

by bookhobbit



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: F/M, Fluff, M/M, Multi, OT3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-20
Updated: 2014-09-20
Packaged: 2018-02-18 03:43:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2334014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookhobbit/pseuds/bookhobbit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which William and Sacharissa completely fail to notice something important.</p>
            </blockquote>





	inkstains, paper, and fate

**Author's Note:**

> The other day I remembered that spate of Newspaper OT3 art that was going around tumblr last year and was suddenly hit by a wave of shipping and COULD NOT FIND ANYTHING on ao3. I have therefore sought to rectify the dearth in some small way. 
> 
> Also, thank you to ofshoesandships for beta-ing!

William sometimes feels everything single thing that's happened to him as a result of being run over by careening printing press had been, well, in much the same spirit as the precipitating event. That is to say: fast, extremely surprising, and totally beyond his control.

Maybe that’s an exaggeration, but if so, not much of one.

Nothing quite exemplifies this like his - his, well, whatever it is, with Sacharissa and Otto.

Sacharissa herself, that was just…expected. Fate had thrown them together and so forth. Fate did things like that and if you knew what you were looking for it wasn’t hard to spot. You could fight it, but sometimes you didn’t want to.

Admittedly, their courtship hadn't consisted of courting so much as running around trying to get news and then sitting in the office composing stories and editing them. It had all been a bit vague in the romantic department. You didn't expect that, with Fate - you expected flowers and hearts and things, but what William and Sacharissa got was inkstains and paper and people threatening to jump off roofs.

So, yes, engagement to Sacharissa was not, in retrospect, a surprising development. He had spent the entire courtship in a more or less constant state of surprise, but when they announce it, everyone else  just looks knowing and winks, except of course the dwarves, because dwarves don’t do that sort of thing, for which William is grateful.

And, also, except for Otto. He’s clearly happy for them - he congratulates them and everything - but William can tell there's something else on his mind. As Sacharissa so often points out, if even William notices your emotional reaction it has to be pretty obvious, so Otto must have be really distracted.

William makes a point, later, of asking Otto if he's okay - he's trying to get better about that, he really is. But all it gets him was slightly odd look which quickly gave way to a smiling affirmative.

Okay. So, he’d tried. Probably just thinking about new lighting techniques, or something.  He does that a lot, just stares off into space and then sprints for his cellar. Probably that’s it. William gives the matter no more thought.

That is, until about a week later when he and Sacharissa and Otto are working late, as they so often are.

It’s the first time the three of them have been alone since the announcement but William isn’t thinking about that, he’s thinking about the fact that he still hasn’t finished the piece on the Carcer Dunn’s arrest and the new edition has got to be out in four hours.

So when they’re finally done and have the lot off to press it’s a bit of a surprise when Otto says, very quietly, “Vould you two stay for a moment longer? Zere is something I vish to discuss vis you both.”

William is in that special stage of sleep deprivation where euphoria is creeping up to take over exhaustion and you know you couldn't sleep this minute anyway, so he shrugs and sits back down. Sacharissa does the same, but adds, "I hope you aren't expecting me to react to anything intelligently, Otto. I think I've exhausted every available language-producing brain cell."

Otto smiles, but it's faint and tired and not at all the pointy enthusiastic grin either of them are used to. William and Sacharissa exchange concerned looks.

But then it's better to let him get on with what he wants to say, isn't it? Perhaps he wants a raise? No, he'd have talked to William alone about that, probably - it would be easier than trying to corner both of them, given the minimal amount of time they were in the same room at the same time these days.

Otto perches nervously on an empty desk, and wrings his hands. "Vot I have to say is not easy," he begins. “I am not quite sure how to begin…”

"You're not quitting, Otto, are you?" asks Sacharissa. William's eyes widen. He'd not even thought of that, but Otto is waving his hands. “No. No. It is something quite different.”

"Yes?" says Sacharissa gently.

"You two are getting married soon, yes?"

"Yes," says William. "Er, soon-ish."

"When we can find the time," puts in Sacharissa.

"Do you have an objection?" asks William.

"Ah. No, I am very happy for you both. Ah - in fact I - vell - in many vays, this is my home, you are my family. I came to zer city very much alone, very much afraid of zer future, and it has turned out...better than I could have hoped. Yes? Ve have an office, a thriving business! Zere is so much to do, alvays. And… Vith you two…” He twists his hands and looks wretched.

“Our marriage isn’t going to change that,” William says. “If you’re worried we’re going to let someone else take over and go be domestic, well,” he gives a little snort “Don’t. I don’t think we could if we wanted to. And we have discussed it.”

“No, I know zhis. I am not worried.” He continues wringing his hands, though.

"Are you getting married as well?" Sacharissa asks. "You don't have to dance around the subject if so. I'm sure the other party is very-"

"I am trying to say zhat have feelings for you both," Otto blurts out.

There's a long silence, shattered into smaller silences as William goes "er" and “uh” a few times.

Otto sighs. "I realize zat zis is not usual. The jealousy for one member, yes. If it vere only one of you, I vould not have spoken. You are happy together! And I am happy for you, but I vanted to tell you this before..." He shakes his head. "I do not know. I vanted to - vat is the phrase Villiam is so fond of, get it off my chest. Yes. And now it is."

The silence resumes uninterrupted. Otto shuffles his feet nervously where they touch the floor in front of the desk.”

"I know zis is a terrible time to tell you," he adds. "It is late, you do not know how to react - but it is so rare to catch you both at the same time and I - vell. I vill go now. If you do not vish to see me again I can vork different hours, or if you vant me to resign - "

"Otto," says Sacharissa, "You are not going to quit because of something that isn’t your fault and you shouldn’t feel guilty about." William, who is still not past the point of making occasional vowel sounds, nevertheless finds it in him to nod vigorously.

Otto nods miserably, staring at his feet. "Thank you. I appreciate zat."

"And whatever else may happen, you're very kind to think of us that way. We care about you too, we'll never stop appreciating you or the excellent work you do, and you shouldn't be embarrassed." Sacharissa's voice is firm and assured, and William wishes he could contribute some actual consonants, but his vocal chords seem to be on strike and he's terrified of saying the wrong thing. Otto? _Feelings_ for them? For _both of them?_ And what were they going to do about it, if anything? His thoughts are taking a turn for the improbable and he is considering theories he would definitely not have considered before. Not, however, unwelcome ones. Otto has - Otto is - he can’t process this right now but he needs to because he thinks if he doesn’t say something soon, his opportunity will be over.

In fact, William is very busy examining the state of his emotions. It's not easy.

Otto is nodding again, and making his excuses, and Sacharissa is wishing him a pleasant night, so William manages the same.

When Otto's gone he says, "I think I'd better walk you home."

"Yes," says Sacharissa, "I think you'd better."

 

As they step out into the fresh (for Ankh Morpork) dawn air, William sighs. "You were very good back there."

"I didn't feel very good. I tried to be ladylike, though. I mean, a true lady would be kind about rejecting someone's advances provided they were polite, wouldn't she?" Sacharissa wrinkles her nose. "It's not the sort of thing you read about in Deidre Waggon, I know that. I mean, yes, certainly, rejecting a gentleman with feelings for you, but not a gentleman with feelings for both you and your fiance. It’s a bit of a gap, really."

"Were we rejecting them?" says William, thoughtful.

"Sorry?"

"I mean...you didn't say. I didn't, either."

"What? Are you suggesting we - are you saying he - " Sacharissa splutters into silence.

"I'm not suggesting anything," says William. "Exactly. But, er, I've seen you noticing."

"Noticing what?" She has that scandalized tone that usually means he's right but she doesn't want to admit it.

"You know," he says, waving a hand. "Noticing. Can you honestly say you don't fancy him? Even a bit? If you can, we can drop the topic, but -"

"William, you are my _fiance_."

"Yes, and you are mine. And we get to decide what that means."

Sacharissa bites her lip. "Up to and including a third party?"

"If we both want that, yes." William shrugs. "It's like I said, if you don't want to we won't speak of it again."

She's quiet for a moment. "Do you want it?"

"I don't know. I’m still trying to figure that out." He gives her a small smile. "You know how I am about this sort of thing."

"Completely oblivious, yes." She chuckles. "But, while I don’t wish to sound intolerant, I didn’t know your, um, proclivities ran towards gentlemen at all.”

William stops to think about this. “I didn’t either, but I suppose they must. That would explain quite a lot.” He gives it some further thought. “I can’t believe I didn’t notice before, actually.”

“I reiterate my previous statement about complete obliviousness. You only noticed me because our entire relationship was so completely predictable to everyone around us.”

“I would like to restate the fact that I love you and want to marry you,” William says, because he’s not quite sure how she’s taking this and it’s safer to be sure. He's going to have to do some hard thinking about all this a bit later. This is, of course, another one of the many reasons his father had for categorizing people as not-people and he's worked hard to undo that attitude in himself - but, still, it's one thing to know that attitude is unfair to other people and quite another to know it's unfair to yourself. He thinks he'd be better off dealing with this when he's rested, though; right now everything is in a bit of a fog.

“I know.” Sacharissa raises an eyebrow at him, but fortunately she doesn't seem to be getting angry. “You _are_ the one who brought it up, though, which you must admit is rather suggestive.”

“True. Or perhaps I just really, really want to annoy my father."

"What, proposing marriage to a common engraver's daughter hasn't annoyed him enough?"

"As far as I'm concerned, there's no enough." They're at Sacharissa's door. "I'd better let you go get some sleep."

"I think that would be best. And we'll talk about this when we're both well-rested," she says. "Properly talk. Not just you boggling and me being indignant."

"I have never boggled in my life," William says, giving indignation a try himself.

"William deWorde, you spent half his speech boggling, and don't deny it." On that note, she gives him a little wave and shuts the door, leaving him to contemplate his own walk home in silence.

 

It's three days before they can manage to get a piece of time to themselves to talk. They go to a nice little cafe and pointedly don’t notice the small fire that happens on the way - if sending a runner to get a reporter and an icongrapher and _then_ ignoring it counts as not noticing.

As soon as they've ordered and been left alone, Sacharissa says, "I've been thinking about what you said."

"Which bit?"

"The bit about, er- " And it amazes William but she actually blushes. "About fancying."

"Oh. That bit. And?"

"I think the answer might be yes, a bit. It's easy to ignore, of course, because I _am_ a nearly-married woman. But he’s so sweet, isn’t he, and thoughtful and, ehm, rather cute." She sits back, slightly defiant, as if daring William to say something. He just nods.

“And you? Have you worked things out yet?” she asks.

“I’m...not sure. I've been thinking about it a lot, but it's a pretty big revelation, what with one thing and another.” William sighs. “I think I do want- I mean I quite- he saved my life, you know. And he’s _Otto_. He’s so... _Otto_.”

“I have to say that you definitely sound besotted,” Sacharissa volunteers. “If I was going to describe what ‘absolutely spoony about your head iconographer’ sounds like, that sentence would definitely figure in.

“ _Spoony_? I can take besotted, but I don’t know about spoony.”

“Definitely spoony.” Sacharissa stirs her tea with the air of having had the last word.

William accepts defeat and asks, “So this is something you’re willing to consider, then?”

"Yes. I think. Maybe. Depending on what 'this' is going to involve."

"I don't know myself. I think we'd better talk to _him_ about the this."

"Do you suppose he's at the office?"

"He usually is. But then, we usually are too."

"Let's find out."

 

Otto is in the office. The intern hovering nervously around the cellar door informs them that he's been there since they left.

"He's avoiding us," Sacharissa concludes.

"Well, it's not going to work this time," William says grimly and proceeds down into the cellar. He can hear the sound of Sacharissa’s sensible heels clicking down behind him.

Otto, of course, knows they’re there. He has to. Vampires can hear heartbeats, never mind footsteps, and William is pretty sure he can even tell just who is coming down his stairs. But he doesn’t turn around, just stiffens his posture a little bit like he's bracing for a blow.

"Otto," says William sternly, "You _can_ look at us, you know."

At that he does turn around, just as Sacharissa arrives to stand beside William, folding her arms and frowning. "You've got to stop avoiding us," she says. "We're not going to bite." She goes red. "Oh dear, I didn't mean - "

And Otto is laughing, for some reason, softly and quietly but laughing. It's such a relief that William laughs a little bit too.

"Vat is it you vant?" says Otto, breathing out. "I take it you are not here to fire me."

"We're definitely not here to fire you," Sacharissa confirms. "Just the opposite, really."

"Hang on," William says, "Surely the opposite of firing is hiring and we're not really here to hi-"

"William. That is really not important right now."

William pulls himself together. "Right. Right. Um. Okay."

They stand there in silence for a moment before William realizes that neither he nor Sacharissa has any idea what they are going to say. Rehearsing would probably have been a good idea. Or at least discussing the general outline of the script.

"Um, so regarding your, ahem, confession," William begins, aware that this is not an inspiring start. Otto's eyes drop, and William flails a bit. "We weren't offended!"

"Flattered, really," puts in Sacharissa.

"Zere is a 'but' coming up here somewhere," Otto says, smiling wryly.

"Well, yes, but probably not the sort you're thinking it's going to be."

"No, I believe I can guess. You are flattered but you are going to be married. You do not vant a vampire hanging around you and giving you the nerves during zer wedding." Otto waves his hands. "I vill not cause trouble, I promise-"

"Otto, let us finish," Sacharissa commands, giving him a stern eye. "You're wrong, now shush."

This gets her another smile. At least he's still got his sense of humor.

William and Sacharissa exchange glances. Sacharissa's has a barb in it that says _you keep going, I've done my bit_ , so he does. He's supposed to be good with words but that doesn't feel true right now...

Oh, well.  He clears his throat and plunges in.

"Otto, Sacharissa and I talked about it and we- um, we thought maybe we could talk a bit. About what you would want. If anything. Because you see we both quite like you, really, and we decided we get to say what being affianced means, and - "

Otto's head snaps up and he stares at them.

"I beg your pardon?"

"It's just what he says," Sacharissa says, twisting her hand. "I thought it wasn't proper but then I thought, well, what counts as proper anyway, and why can't this be it? I'm sure it's quite all right provided everyone knows what they're getting into, isn't it? It’s not as though we can be mutually cheating on each other with the same person when we both know about it and have discussed it. And so we wanted to know, what is it you wanted this to be?"

Otto is still staring at them with something that looks, even to William, an awful lot like affection.

"Oh," he says, very quietly.

"It's really quite all right if you don't want to take us up on the offer at all," says William. "I mean, you're not bound into anything just on account of what you smppppph-"

He's cut off by Otto kissing him, quite gently and in a way that would make it easy for him to escape if he wanted, but actually, no, he doesn't want, because this is really nice. Really, really nice. Otto's being careful but William can still feel just a hint of fang and it's quite, quite different to kissing Sacharissa but not at all in a bad way. Not bad at all.

He rather regrets it when Otto pulls away, although he pauses to grab William's hand and plant a quick kiss on the palm. William hadn't even realized he'd brought it up to Otto's face. _Spoony_ feels very appropriate after all right about now.

Sacharissa, about whom William had perhaps justifiably forgotten for a moment, is standing there with her mouth open. Otto swoops in - William can't describe the movement as anything except a swoop - and kisses her next.

Theoretically he should be jealous or something but all he can think is that it's fascinating to see what Sacharissa looks like being kissed. Generally he has his eyes closed and is not in a position to observe. She gives a little fluttering sigh that's very ladylike as Otto pulls away, and it's actually kind of cute and he can't help grinning.

"As nice as that was," says William, "It was not really an answer."

Otto's smile is quite its normal fanged self this time and William sort of melts and he would never admit that to anyone else but, oh.

"I do not know," Otto says, voice a bit hoarse. "I did not expect to get zhis far, to be frank. I never had a hope that you would reciprocate. I only hoped you vould not fire me."

"Well," says William, frowning thoughtfully, "I was going to suggest we could court you but quite frankly Sacharissa and I didn't exactly have a romantic courtship and I hardly expect this would be any different."

"No. Ve vould go to vun of your charming little cafés and there vould be a murder."

"Or a six-cart-pile up."

"Or a naked man running through the restaurant," Sacharissa adds.

"Right," William says. "Anyway, so the real question is, what do you want? Or what are you comfortable with?"

Otto shrugs. "Vat ve have been doing before, but...more often?" he suggests. "And ve vill perhaps see vhere things go?"

"That sounds fine to me," says William. He's a bit relieved that they don't have to find a brand new normal yet, but - "With more kissing, perhaps?"

Sacharissa gives a muffled laugh but says, "I quite agree! We can't have everything the same, can we?"

And Otto's smile, this time, is just faintly devious in a way that certainly does not make William feel just a bit swoony, because William doesn't swoon any more than he boggles.

"No," Otto says. "No, ve can't."

They all agree, eventually, that it was well worth the trouble.

 


End file.
